Oguzhan Turkoglu, a postdoctoral researcher at the Hertie School, presents his research on the impact of hometown martyr ceremonies on public opinion. This event is part of the International Security Research Colloquium hosted by the Centre for International Security.
Armed groups use various customs such as parades and funeral ceremonies to garner support for their cause. However, our understanding of their effects is limited. A main challenge to analyzing the effects of customs is non-random exposure to them as armed groups generally organize these events where they already have high support. Here, we exploit a unique setting in Turkey provided by compulsory military service and random allocation of the service location. The Turkish government organizes martyr ceremonies for all security forces who die in service in their hometown, and we examine the impact of these ceremonies in 2015 between two elections. The results are twofold. First, martyr ceremonies increase the vote share of the governing party and turnout. Second, martyr ceremonies increase hawkish attitudes and behavior. People living in towns that had a martyr ceremony are more likely to favor military conflict resolution, organize nationalist protests, and attack the Kurdish political party compared to people living in towns that had no ceremony. These findings are relevant to the literature on how public opinion changes in conflict settings.
Speaker
Oguzhan Turkoglu is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Hertie School. With Prof. Ruth Ditlmann, he studies intergroup relations and commemorating the past atrocities. More specifically, they examine how commemorating the past atrocities affects political behavior and attitudes toward minority groups. Dr. Turkoglu's research is at the intersection of intergroup relations, forced migration, and political violence, and employs quantitative and experimental methods. His PhD thesis examines the causes of forced migration with a focus on rebel group dynamics. His recent research analyzes how intergroup relations can be improved and how the past can be instrumentalized for this purpose. His research is published or accepted for publication in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Political Science Research and Methods, and other outlets.
